Israeli mayor Nir Barkat has called for Israeli police's collaboration to stop the ‘noise pollution’ caused by the Muslim call to prayer in the occupied city of Jerusalem.

“The Jerusalem municipality would collaborate with Israeli police to enforce noise regulations regarding the call to prayer,” he said.

The Israeli decision came as part of the municipality’s attempts to impose control over the city and to wipe out its Islamic and Arab identity.

Commenting on the Israeli decision, head of the Islamic Supreme Council Sheikh Ekrema Sabri said that the call to prayer was not just a Muslim religious ritual, but an act of worship, and that attempting to ban the Adhan would constitute a violation of freedom of worship.

Sabri added that the real noise pollution was the sound of Israeli military jets hovering in Jerusalem’s sky, the sound of Israeli military tanks raiding Palestinian cities and villages, and the noise of bombs fired at Palestinian citizens.

A number of Israeli settlers from illegal settlement of Pisgat Zeev protested in front of the house of Israeli Mayor of Jerusalem Nir Barakat on Thursday morning over the ‘noise pollution’ caused by the Muslim call to prayer.

According to Israeli radio station Reshet Bet, Barkat responded to the settlers’ complaints by saying that the Jerusalem municipality would collaborate with Israeli police to enforce noise regulations regarding the call to prayer.

The call to prayer -- also known as the adhan -- is broadcast five times a day from mosques or Islamic centers.

A spokesperson for the Jerusalem municipality told Ma’an that Barkat, "in collaboration with the Jerusalem District police chief and local Muslim leadership, has developed a plan to protect the religious freedom of Muslim muezzin to announce the call to prayer, while ensuring reasonable quiet in Jerusalem's residential areas.”

The spokesperson went on to add that the municipality guidelines would include “increased instructions for muezzin operators regarding technical guidelines for optimal playback and sound amplification, increased mapping of city mosques, and continuous dialogue with local Muslim leadership."

Adnan al-Husseini, the Palestinian Authority (PA)-appointed governor of Jerusalem, told Ma’an that the call to prayer was one of the main Muslim religious rituals and an integral part of Jerusalem’s identity. He said that Israeli demands to lower the sound of the adhan was a threat which had been issued several times before in Jerusalem.

Al-Husseini said that the sound of the adhan doesn’t rise above an agreed-upon decibel level, adding that Israeli settlers were not annoyed by the noise, but by the call to prayer as a reminder of Palestinian presence in Jerusalem.

Former Grand Mufti of Jerusalem Sheikh Ekrima Sabri said that the call to prayer was not just a Muslim religious ritual, but an act of worship, and that attempting to ban the adhan would represent a violation of freedom of worship.

Sabri added that the real noise pollution was the sound of of Israeli military jets hovering in Jerusalem’s sky, the sound of Israeli military tanks raiding Palestinian cities and villages, and the noise of bombs fired at Palestinian citizens.

Meanwhile, Hatem Abd Al-Qader, a Fatah official in Charge of Jerusalem affairs, told Ma’an that Israel aimed to provoke Muslims by attempting to ban the call to prayer -- although no reports indicated on Thursday that the Jerusalem municipality was attempting to ban the adhan outright.

Abd al-Qader said that the Israeli settlers’ protest against the adhan came amid constant violations and raids of the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in East Jerusalem’s Old City, and demolition of Muslim graves in Jerusalem, which he said were part of a broader Israeli plan to destroy the Palestinian Muslim and Christian identities of Jerusalem and replace them with a Jewish one, turning the Israeli-Palestinian political conflict into a religious one.

Palestinian communities in occupied East Jerusalem -- within the municipal boundaries and also beyond the wall in the occupied West Bank -- have long been targeted by Israeli authorities in what has been denounced as a policy of "Judaization" of the holy city at the expense of other religious communities.

This “Judaization” has been characterized by the continuous expansion of illegal Jewish-only settlements and a large-scale policy of demolition of Palestinian homes.

The Al-Aqsa Mosque Compound has also been the stage of numerous tensions over the years, with Israeli forces imposing tight restrictions on Palestinian worshipers at the site.

Many Palestinians fear that right-wing Israelis are attempting to reclaim the holy site, as it sits where Jews believe the First and Second Temples once stood.

Following a number of controversial excavations in recent weeks to Islamic holy sites, a new violation took place Tuesday by Israeli troops who accompanied Israeli government officials to demolish a Muslim cemetery.

The destruction took place at the historic Bab al-Rahmeh cemetery, near the al-Aqsa Mosque in east Jerusalem. Parts of the cemetery had been confiscated by the Israeli government in 2015.

The cemetery dates back more than 1400 years, and is considered one of the most significant Muslim historic sites in East Jerusalem, according to representatives of the Islamic Waqf of Jerusalem.

Mustafa Abu Zahra, the head of the Committee for the Preservation of Islamic Cemeteries, told the Anaolu News Agency that the Israeli officials were from the ‘Israeli Nature Authority’, and that a number of soldiers accompanied them into the cemetery with heavy equipment to carry out the destruction of the graves.At least eight graves were destroyed, according to Abu Zahra.

The Director of the Al Aqsa Mosque, Sheikh Omar Al-Qiswani, told reporters, “Israel claims the graves are situated on land owned by the Israeli Nature Authority. But Israel has no historical – or legal – basis on which to claim any right to the cemetery. The site is an Islamic Waqf [endowment] and will remain so.”

The Israeli government plans to turn the area into a park for Israeli Jews, which will exclude Palestinian residents of the West Bank and Gaza.

The Israeli occupation authorities (IOA) embarked on a bid to finalize the high-speed railway and add another line connecting Tel Aviv to Western Occupied Jerusalem.

The railway line will involve digging tunnels for two kilometers at a depth of 80 meters.

Scheduled to be fully operational by 2018, the railway will be vital in lowering journey times between Tel Aviv and Occupied Jerusalem.

At a cost of $1.8 billion, the high speed link allegedly aims to lower the journey time by rail and to reduce the road traffic congestion on this route.

The Israeli Minister of Transportation and Road Safety Yisrael Katz has instructed the extension of the high-speed railway line from Tel Aviv to Occupied Jerusalem so that it extends into the Old City, near the Western Wall. As part of the project, an underground stop will be built in the Western Wall area.

The high-speed railway project costs are estimated to be about NIS 7 billion. It includes the laying of 56 kilometers of tracks, which go from Tel Aviv, through Ben Gurion Airport and the illegal Modi'in settlement, and end in Occupied Jerusalem. Trips from Tel Aviv to Occupied Jerusalem are expected to take just 28 minutes.

Work on the line is expected to conclude by the end of 2017, with its first voyages planned for Passover 2018. Three trains are expected to launch between Tel Aviv and Occupied Jerusalem each hour during peak times of day, with a total of four million trips per year.

Observers said the project makes part of an Israeli Judaization scheme aimed at smoothing and boosting Israelis’ presence in the holy occupied city of Jerusalem and wiping out the typically Islamic character of the city.

The High Presidential Commission for Church Affairs in Palestine strongly condemned Tuesday the raising of Israeli flag over the eastern entrance to the Holy Sepulchre Church.

The commission considered the act as a flagrant violation that came as part of Israel’s daily breaches to the Palestinian sovereignty in occupied Jerusalem

Raising the Israeli flag on Holy Sepulchre Church is a flagrant violation to the 2012 resolution which recognized Palestine as a non-member observer state in the United Nations, the commission said.

The commission stressed the importance of maintaining the Status Quo Law in occupied Jerusalem which preserves freedom of worship for all religions, and prevents the raising of any flag over holy places.

It also called for standing firmly against any Israeli attempt to impose control over the Palestinian holy places.

Head of the Islamic Cemeteries Committee, Sheikh Mustafa Abu Zahra, slammed the break-in.

“The Israeli occupation forces violated the sanctity of the cemetery and covered up eight graves prepared for the burial of dead Muslims,” Abu Zahara told the PIC.

“I headed to the cemetery and scrutinized the scale of destruction,” he stated, adding that a lawyer has been hired to file a lawsuit over the assault.

According to Abu Zahra, the Israeli Antiquity Authority claimed ownership of the Bab Al-Rahma Cemetery, which has been an Islamic property for over 1,400 years, as has been corroborated by documents and historical records.

Muslims have, meanwhile been banned from burying their dead relatives in the cemetery.

The Bab Al-Rahma Cemetery draws much of its sacred character from the fact that it has been a home to the cadavers of a number of Companions of the Prophet of Islamic, Mohamed (Peace Be Upon Him), including Ubada Ibn Al-Samet.

Hundreds of Israeli fanatics, escorted by soldiers, stormed on early Monday morning Kafl Haris town, to the north of Salfit, and performed provocative rituals in Islamic holy shrines and archaeological sites.

A PIC news correspondent said Israeli army troops rolled into Kafl Haris at predawn time and closed off the main access roads out of and into the area.

Buses carrying hundreds of Israeli fanatics showed up in the area at the crack of dawn.

Different groups of Jewish settlers escorted by police forces on Sunday morning desecrated anew the Aqsa Mosque’s western courtyards.

At an early morning hour, the Israeli police deployed its forces in different parts of the Mosque’s courtyards before allowing settler groups to enter through al-Maghariba Gate.

During their tours at the Islamic holy site, some settlers tried to perform rituals and refrained from doing so after they saw angry reactions from Muslim worshipers, who loudly chanted religious slogans.

Outside the Mosque’s gates, the Israeli police prevented several Jerusalemite citizens, including women, from entering because there were still Israeli orders banning their presence in the Islamic holy shrine.

“The Israeli occupation prevents the implementation of more than 40 vital projects to restore al-Aqsa Mosque facilities and walls,” said the director of the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound, Sheikh Omar al-Kiswani.

The Israeli settlers’ break-ins into the Mosque are a nightmare that keeps haunting the Muslim worshipers, he added.

Kiswani stated that one of the projects is the lighting project, which requires installing lighting poles from the Lions Gate to the inside of the Mosque, in addition to changing the cables and lamps. The fire alarm systems and other projects need to be completed as well.

He added that the restoration projects are very important as the Mosque receives thousands of visitors and worshipers every day, especially on Fridays.

Break-ins

"Israeli settlers break in by force and guns, but that won’t give them the right and will make us more resilient,” said Kiswani.

He added that the Israeli police had arrested one of the Mosque’s guards, at the pretext that that he raised his hand showing ‘Hitler’s Swastika’ as Israeli settlers broke into the Mosque.

He said, “117 Israeli settlers broke into al-Aqsa Mosque on Tuesday (25th October, 2016) in five groups. 40 of them were soldiers in military uniform, four police officers, and the others were Jewish settlers and rabbis.”

The number of Israeli settlers who broke into the Mosque during the Jewish holiday of Tabernacles reached 1,611, and Israeli rabbis spoke about the alleged Temple during their tour.

Daily break-ins

Kiswani said that during the Jewish Feast of Tabernacles, Israeli police around al-Aqsa Mosque restricted the Muslims’ entrance to the Mosque and prevented some youths from entering during the Israeli break-ins.

He explained that the Israeli restrictions around al-Aqsa Mosque aim at decreasing the number of Muslim worshipers and giving space to the settlers, pointing out that the number of break-ins has increased remarkably so far this month (October 2016).

“The Israeli procedures, break-ins, and targeting of guards, servants and worshipers aim at imposing an Israeli status quo and to force us to accept it. But this won’t happen,” he affirmed.

A call to visit al-Aqsa

Kiswani stressed the importance of visiting al-Aqsa Mosque from all parts of Palestine on a daily basis since it is a target for Israel.

He pointed out that six guards of the Mosque have been banished from al-Aqsa Mosque by Israeli orders.

He concluded that al-Aqsa Mosque will remain an Islamic site regardless of the Israeli rigorous attempts to change that.